The present invention relates to a wireless co-tenant base station. In particular, the base station is capable of providing multiple radios to communicate with different mobile stations on different frequency bands or protocols.
Existing cellular base stations are configured to communicate with one type of mobile station. The radios that are incorporated in to the base stations are designed to communicate with one type of mobile station. For example, one type of radio is configured to communicate with a 900 MHz frequency band mobile station and another type of radio is configured to communicate with an 1800 Mhz frequency band mobile station. If a cellular service provider wants to serve both types of mobile stations, the service provider would need to install a 900 Mhz base station and an 1800 Mhz base station.
Therefore, a limitation of existing cellular base stations is that they are not equipped to provide service to multiple types of mobile stations.
What is needed is a cellular base station that can provide service to multiple types of mobile stations.
The invention overcomes the identified problems and provides a base station that can serve multiple types of mobile stations. A base transceiver station (BTS) according to an exemplary embodiment includes a first transceiver configured to communicate with a first mobile station on a first frequency band, and a second transceiver configured to communicate with a second mobile station on a second frequency band. These bands can be, for example, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequency bands. The BTS includes a processor configured to instruct the first transceiver to receive inbound information from the first mobile station and to transmit outbound information to the first mobile station and to instruct the second transceiver to receive inbound information from the second mobile station and to transmit outbound information to the second mobile station. A trunk module is coupled to the processor and configured to communicate the first information and the second information with a base station controller (BSC). The BSC is coupled to the BTS and configured to communicate the inbound information and outbound information with the BTS. In one embodiment, a time division multiplexing technique is used to communicate the inbound information and outbound information between the BTS and BSC.
In another embodiment, the first information includes first voice/data information and first control information and the second information includes second voice/data information and second control information. The control information is associated with an Abis communication protocol between the BTS and BSC and is multiplexed over a single Abis link between the BTS and BSC.
Another embodiment of the base transceiver station includes a third transceiver configured to communicate with a third mobile station over a third frequency band. This band can be, for example, a 1900 MHz frequency band. The processor is configured to instruct the third transceiver to receive inbound information from the third mobile station and to transmit outbound information to the third mobile station. The trunk module is configured to communicate the third information with the BSC. The time division multiplexing technique is used to communicate the third inbound information and third outbound information between the BTS and BSC.
Advantages of the invention include the ability to incorporate multiple transceivers in a BTS for communicating on multiple frequency bands. This allows easier placement of the various transceivers in a single location and improves cellular service to mobile stations.